The 10 Best Metal Gear Solid V Mods

What are the best Metal Gear Solid V mods?

Metal Gear Solid V is the perfect fusion of open-world adventure and stealth, and it’s one of the best in the series. 

However, the modding community has also come up with numerous ways to improve this already spectacular game!

Today, we’re taking a look at the best mods ever created for MGSV and choosing the ones we think stand out the most.

The 10 Best Metal Gear Solid V Mods

We went through a lot of Metal Gear Solid V mods on the Nexus when creating this list, and there are tons of great options to choose from.

The ones that made this list were chosen based on their ratings, number of downloads, and how they improve the game.

So, if you’re ready to replay this great game, here’s our list of the 10 best Metal Gear Solid V mods:

10. Return of the Item Unlocker

Kicking off our list, we have Return of the Item Unlockers, which gives you the ability to research and craft basically every item in the game!

This mod unlocks almost every item you can imagine, so all you have to do is research and craft it without needing to meet any specific criteria.

It also covers unique items that would otherwise be unobtainable in the vanilla game, which we definitely love.

With this mod, you really have a lot of freedom to customize your loadout with a huge array of weapons, explosives, and gadgets.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t cover items from DLC since they have different parameters that make it so they’re incompatible.

That said, the amount of stuff this mod allows you to easily access in the base game alone is more than enough to make it worth downloading.

While MGSV is one of the best PS4 open-world games, this mod alone makes its PC counterpart arguably superior!

9. SnakeBite Mod Manager

Okay, so the SnakeBite Mod Manager may not look impressive on its own, but trust us, it’s a must-have if you’re modding the game!

What this does is make loading and managing all of your MGSV mods a whole lot easier, and it will save you a ton of time and a lot of headaches.

Basically, SnakeBite consolidates all of your downloaded mods into one place and allows you to install, activate, or disable them right on the main screen.

If you don’t have a lot of experience with manual installation or want to save time, you’re going to want to download this.

Really, if you’re using more than one mod, just get it and save yourself a ton of headaches, because it really is an invaluable modding tool!

8. FOB Character Enabler

Many features in Metal Gear Solid V are tied to its multiplayer, most notably the ability to play as other main characters.

Fortunately, modder BobDoleOwndU has found a way to undo this injustice and finally allow us to use these restricted characters in the main game.

With this mod enabled, you can now play as Quiet and Ocelot, who each have unique abilities that make gameplay a whole lot different.

Ocelot, for instance, has faster shooting abilities, while Quiet, appropriately, is an excellent sniper for when you want to stay at a distance.

Being able to unlock new characters in one of the best video games of all time definitely makes this mod worth checking out.

Plus, Quiet and Ocelot are just awesome characters, and we really enjoyed being able to use them on actual missions!

7. The Man Who Sold The World

Taking its name from the game’s outro song, this mod allows you to step into the shoes of Big Boss, a classic Metal Gear Solid character.

Once installed, The Man Who Sold the World will replace Venom Snake with Big Boss, and there are a few different variants to choose from.

The first variant has his classic mullet, the other has Venom Snake’s ponytail, and the last features a black bandana.

There are also two different arm styles to replace Snake’s bionic arm, but these are optional and are basically just for aesthetics.

If that wasn’t cool enough, there are also tons of cosmetics you can choose from, ranging from a tuxedo to tastefully shirtless.

Big Boss is such an iconic character in the Metal Gear Solid series, and it’s nice to actually be able to play as him throughout the whole game.

However, this mod does require the SnakeBite Mod Manager to install, so make sure you have that set up before grabbing this one!

6. Immersive S++ Staff And Recruits

S++-ranked soldiers and staff are the best in the game, and they are incredibly important once you reach the endgame in MGSV.

While there are many different mods that throw them at players by the dozen, this isn’t very immersive and can feel a bit like cheating.

Immersive S++ Staff and Recruits balances this out by introducing more of these characters in a way that makes sense.

They’re still fairly rare, but you will notice them appearing more often than in the vanilla game, but they won’t just appear at your base like magic.

Instead, S+ and S++ soldiers and staff will have to be earned by completing pretty tough challenges, which makes getting them actually feel rewarding.

While you won’t have to do anything as difficult as taking out the hardest bosses in Elden Ring, this mod will still make you work for these assets!

What we really love about this mod is that it fits seamlessly into the game, and it doesn’t really make it anything easier.

If you’re struggling to find S++ staff and recruits, we definitely recommend giving this mod a try for yourself!

5. Beyond Ultra Settings

Now, for a game that was released in 2015, Metal Gear Solid V still holds up remarkably well in terms of its graphics.

Still, this hasn’t stopped modders from trying to upgrade its visuals further, and Beyond Ultra Settings definitely nails it.

This performance-friendly graphics mod does a lot but without sacrificing your framerate and game stability.

Beyond Ultra Settings increases the draw distance and level of detail, giving even far-away objects a realistic appearance.

This also helps prevent grass and terrain from randomly popping into existence once you get close enough.

There are three different versions of this mod to choose from, which include Recommended, Alternative, and Extreme.

While they’re all great, the one you should choose depends on how powerful your PC is, as Extreme as some steep requirements.

The Recommended version of this mod works on most rigs, and it does everything mentioned above.

Meanwhile, the Alternative version is a bit more demanding as it adds more distant shadows with or without fast approximate anti-aliasing.

However, Extreme is for those with a 3060Ti or better, as it maxes everything out and comes with a virtual photography addition for screenshots.

This version turns MGSV into one of the most graphically demanding PC games, and while it looks amazing, it does cost performance.  

4. No More Timers

Are you tired of having to wait for your research to get done before you can use a new item? Yeah, we are too, which is why we love this mod!

While MGSV’s base system is fun, having to constantly wait for things can get old really quickly, and then you just end up losing enthusiasm about unlocking new things.

Fortunately, No More Timers removes the wait time for research so that you can unlock any item or upgrade instantly.

This is especially useful if you’ve already played through the game before and don’t want to spend extra time waiting during your replay.

It speeds up the process immensely and gives you more time to experience the rest of the game without having to wait around at your base.

No More Timers is definitely a mod that we can’t play without anymore, and if you’re as frustrated by the waiting as we are, this is a must-have.

3. More Animals

The hunting sections of Metal Gear Solid V aren’t for everyone, mainly because they’re often in difficult areas with very low spawn rates.

More Animals Afghanistan and More Animals Africa seek to fix these issues by increasing the spawn rates of animals so that they’re more realistic.

For example, now animals will spawn in larger groups instead of random bursts that seem to sporadically come out of nowhere.

This makes all of the hunting sections a lot more bearable and fun to play through, and you can bring in a lot more than you could before.

With More Animals installed, about 4x as many animals can be found in their respective locations, which is certainly an improvement.

If you dreaded the hunting portions of this game, don’t torture yourself any longer, and download this mod for yourself!

2. Infinite Heaven

Infinite Heaven is a must-have, in our opinion, and it is one of the most customizable mods for Metal Gear Solid V that you can find on the Nexus.  

This mod was made to allow players to expand their gameplay experiences with numerous tweakable settings and features.

It has hundreds of toggleable options that touch on aspects of base invasions, missions, side-ops, gear, vehicles, and more.

There is even a free-roam option that you can turn on, as well as a free cam so you can take seriously cool screenshots or check out what’s going on around you.

You can seriously tweak almost every aspect of the game with this mod to create a one-of-a-kind gameplay experience.

Infinite Heaven alone adds a ton of replayability, and even if you’ve played for hundreds of hours, you can experience something completely new with this mod.

Despite being one of the best PS4 games, Infinite Heaven easily makes MGSV worth playing on the PC, even for die-hard console fans.

1. The Ultimate Phantom Pain Mod

Taking our number one spot is the Ultimate Phantom Pain mod, which is arguably the best customization mod available for MGSV.

While Infinite Heaven provides players with a ton of options, this mod literally has options for everything you can think of.

It has time scale settings, hardcore settings, helicopter settings, and new game+ settings that allow you to switch to new game+ with any playthrough.

There are settings for resource harvesting, weapons, enemies, camo, the mother base, reinforcements, soldiers, and general gameplay.

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg! You can even turn on different cheat modes that include infinite ammo, infinite suppressors, god mode, and more!

Want to customize the weather? This mod can do that. Feel like changing the pause menu or startup settings? It’s got you covered!

Seriously, if you can think of it, the Ultimate Phantom Pain mod has it available for you to tweak as much as you want.

What we really love about this mod is that it has a very simple UI, so it’s incredibly easy to navigate and use, even if you’re not mod-savvy.

The Ultimate Phantom Pain mod certainly lives up to its name, and after having played with it, we can never go back to vanilla!

Summary

We hope you’ve enjoyed our list of the 10 best Metal Gear Solid V mods and found a few you can’t wait to try out!

Metal Gear Solid V is an amazing game, but after a while, it can lack replayability, which is where these mods come in.

The Ultimate Phantom Pain mod on its own adds so much to the game that it’s almost like playing it again for the very first time!

Here’s a quick recap of the 10 best Metal Gear Solid V mods:

1. The Ultimate Phantom Pain Mod
2. Infinite Heaven
3. More Animals
4. No More Timers
5. Beyond Ultra Settings
6. Immersive S++ Staff And Recruits
7. The Man Who Sold The World
8. FOB Character Enabler
9. SnakeBite Mod Manager
10. Return of the Item Unlocker

Which Metal Gear Solid V mod will you download first? Leave a comment below.